Monthly Archives: July 2020

WONS

‘Revealing the Truth by the Absolute View’

“Revealing the truth by the absolute view” in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra is completely different from the Perfect Teaching of the pre-Lotus sūtras. It is said in the tenth fascicle of the Commentary on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra: “The Lotus Sūtra is completely different from other sūtras in expressing ‘Opening the provisional and revealing the truth’ and ‘Opening the Manifestation and revealing the Substance.’ In this sense the Lotus Sūtra is totally different from other sūtras.” The fourth fascicle on the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra states that the Lotus Sūtra and other sūtras are the same if the wisdom of the Buddha is a characteristic of the Lotus Sūtra. The meaning of this commentary seems to be that only the Lotus Sūtra reveals the truth and merges all the provisional teachings though both the Lotus Sūtra and various pre-Lotus sūtras explain the wisdom of the Buddha. This is the excellent point of the absolute subtlety in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. It is clear that the various pre-Lotus sūtras are teachings by which nobody can attain Buddhahood. The reason is that the Perfect Teaching of the pre-Lotus sūtras does not contain the absolute subtlety by which people can attain Buddhahood in spite of the fact that three kinds of dharma (mind, the Buddha and people) should be respectively made “myō” (supreme teaching) by the two views of the absolute and relative subtleties.

Nijō Sabutsu Ji, Obtaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 234

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 3, 2020

Good men or women in the future who hear this Chapter of Devadatta of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters.

The Buddha makes this prediction in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. In this Chapter, he assures Devadatta, an evil man who creates great harm, that he too will eventually reach the enlightenment of the Buddha. This prediction is for the rest of us too. It shows that when we nourish our capacity for respect for all beings, no matter how much harm they create, then we uproot the causes of our own greed and fear, and we will always find ourselves in a realm where the Buddha teaches the Wonderful Dharma.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded Chapter 2, Expedients, we begin at the top of today’s portion with the 5,000 arrogant bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Some bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs
Were arrogant.
Some upāsakās were self-conceited.
Some upāsikās were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.

They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.

They had too few merits and virtues
To receive the Dharma.
Now there are only sincere people here.
All twigs and leaves are gone.

See The Great Power in Tactful Means

LS32, d3b, d4b, b4today

The Great Power in Tactful Means

The World-honored One was silent and did not stop [the 5,000 who left]. This was because he thought that even if he forced them to remain, they could not understand his teaching and it would tend instead to produce an adverse result. He also considered that they would wish to seek a true teaching sometime in the future and would in time develop the capacity to understand it. His preaching to them at that time would be the quickest way to save them.

At first glance this attitude of the Buddha seems to indicate indifference to others, but his mind in its profundity was filled with the great wisdom and benevolence of the Buddha. This is clear from the incident recounted in chapter 8, “The Five Hundred Disciples Receive the Prediction of Their Destiny.” When he gave a great many arhats the prediction that they would become buddhas in accordance with their practice, he said to Kāśyapa, “The other band of śrāvakas will also be like them. To those who are not in this assembly, do you proclaim my words.” The Buddha’s words “those who are not in this assembly” refer to the five thousand monks who had risen from their seats and left the assembly earlier. The fact that he purposely did not stop them at that time demonstrates his great power in tactful means.

Buddhism for Today, p45
Eyes

Choosing the Method

Quote

The two methods of embracing and subduing are said by Nichiren to be as incompatible as fire and water. ”The way of embracing is as different from the way of subduing as water is from fire. Fire dislikes water. Water hates fire. Those who embrace laugh at those who subdue. Those who subdue feel sorry for those who embrace.” (Murano 2000, p. 122 adapted). Nichiren quotes Guanding (562-632) as saying of Buddhist monks that in regard to the two methods of propagation: ”When the world is not peaceful, they should carry staves. When the world is peaceful, they should observe the precepts. They should choose one or the other according to the needs of the time. They should not constantly cling to either of the two.” (Murano 2000, p. 122 adapted) A choice is set up between the two contrasting methods. But how different, really, are the ways of embracing and subduing? Guandin’s statement underscores the matter of the precepts – those who follow the way of embracing will follow the precepts including the precepts against killing and fighting, whereas those who follow the way of subduing are to set aside the precepts and take up arms to defend themselves. From examining the passages cited in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra that are said to exemplify the ways of embracing and subduing it would appear that during a time when embracing is the correct method the laymen should follow the five precepts and the monastics should follow the monastic precepts and avoid violence of any kind. In addition, the monastics should stay away from people in power, refrain from criticizing others, practice meditation in seclusion, and only teach when approached by those respectfully seeking the Dharma. On the other hand, during a time when subduing is the correct method, the laypeople should set aside the five precepts (the first of which prohibits killing and violence) and take up arms to defend the True Dharma and the monastics who uphold it, while the true monastics are allowed to keep company with those who can defend them and, according to Guanding, even take up staves themselves. In addition, the true monastics should publicly roar the lion’s roar by actively preaching the Dharma, denouncing false teachings and corruption in the Sangha, and expound the universality of buddha-nature even to those who refuse to listen and may even react violently. The watery method of embracing is therefore the way of seclusion, meditation, and non-violence; whereas the fiery method of subduing is the way of publicly preaching the True Dharma to those who may be violently opposed to it and it allows for the taking up of arms for defense. These two ways would indeed seem to be contradictory.

The ways of embracing and subduing, however, are not entirely opposed. They both have the same aim: the expounding of the True Dharma. They are both based on the compassionate motivation to teach people that all beings are capable of realizing buddhahood. The exemplar of the way of subduing in

Open Your Eyes, p567-568
WONS

Statues and Portraits of the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha

During the two millenniums after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, some worshiped Śākyamuni Buddha accompanied by Kāśyapa and Ananda as described in the Hinayāna sūtras; others worshiped Him accompanied by such bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra as He appeared in quasi-Mahāyāna sūtras, the Nirvana Sūtra, or the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. Many wooden statues and portraits were made of Śākyamuni Buddha as He preached Hinayāna or quasi-Mahāyāna sūtras, but statues and portraits of the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha revealed in “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra were never made. Now in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration, is it not the time that such statues and portraits are made for the first time?

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 149

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 2, 2020

Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear this teaching with an aspiration to see visions of Śākyamuni Buddha and other Buddhas. But we can also hear the Buddha’s promise that when we keep in mind his assurance that we and all beings have the capacity for enlightenment, we will see the world differently. We will start to interpret the actions of ourselves and others in a new light. We will see many more beings who are helping us to become enlightened, rather than beings who are frustrating our efforts at pursuing our selfish goals.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32, WONS

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month learned of the inexplicable nature of the dharma in gāthās, we learn of the difficulty of understanding the Dharma.

Even the Buddhas’ disciples who made offerings
To the [past] Buddhas in their previous existence,
[Even the disciples] who eliminated all asravas,
[Even the disciples] who are now at the final stage
Of their physical existence,
Cannot understand [the Dharma].

As many people as can fill the world,
Who are as wise as you, Śāriputra, will not be able
To measure the wisdom of the Buddhas,
Even though they try to do so with their combined efforts.

As many people as can fill the worlds of the ten quarters,
Who are as wise as you, Śāriputra,
Or as many other disciples of mine
As can fill the ksetras of the ten quarters,
Will not be able to know [the wisdom of the Buddhas]
Even though they try to do so with their combined efforts.

As many Pratyekabuddhas as can fill
The worlds of the ten quarters, or as many as bamboo groves,
Who are wise enough to reach
The final stage of their physical existence without āsravas,
Will not be able to know
Even a bit of the true wisdom of the Buddhas
Even though they continue trying to do so with all their hearts
For many hundreds of millions of kalpas.

As many Bodhisattvas as rice-plants, hemps, bamboos or reeds,
Or as can fill the ksetras of the ten quarters,
Who have just begun to aspire for enlightenment,
Who made offerings to innumerable Buddhas in their previous existence,
Who understand the meanings of the Dharma [in their own ways],
And who are expounding the Dharma [as they understand it],
Will not be able to know the wisdom of the Buddhas
Even though they continue trying to do so with all their hearts
And with all their wonderful wisdom
For as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges.

As many never-faltering Bodhisattvas
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Will not be able to know the wisdom of the Buddhas
Even though they try to do so with all their hearts.

We may not be able to know the wisdom of the Buddhas, but we certainly try.

“Two Buddhas” discusses different ideas of liberation. The Kegon and Zen traditions hold that “the differentiated phenomena of the world are in their essence no different from the one mind and thus originally pure. From this perspective, the purpose of Buddhist practice is to dispel delusion and return the mind to its original clarity. …

“This model explains principle and phenomena as nondual, but it does not value them equally. The one mind is original, pure, and true, while concrete phenomena are ultimately unreal, arising only as the one mind is filtered through human ignorance. From that perspective, the ordinary elements of daily experience remain at a second-tier level as the epiphenomena of a defiled consciousness. Zhiyi termed this perspective the “realm of the conceivable” – understandable, but not yet adequately expressing the true state of affairs. He himself expressed a different, more subtle view. … [H]e states: ‘Were the mind to give rise to all phenomena, that would be a vertical [relationship]. Were all phenomena to be simultaneously contained within the mind, that would be a horizontal [relationship]. Neither horizontal nor vertical will do. It is simply that the mind is all phenomena and all phenomena are the mind. … [This relationship] is subtle and profound in the extreme; it can neither be grasped conceptually nor expressed in words. Therefore, it is called the realm of the inconceivable.’

“In Zhiyi’s understanding, phenomena do not arise from a pure mind or abstract prior principle. “Principle” means that the material and the mental, subject and object, good and evil, delusion and enlightenment are always nondual and mutually inclusive; this is the ‘real aspect of all dharmas’ that only buddhas can completely know, referred to in the ‘Skillful Means’ chapter. This perspective revalorizes the world, not as a realm of delusion, but as the very locus of enlightenment. The aim of practice, then, is not to recover a primal purity, but to manifest the buddha wisdom even amid ignorance and delusion.”
Two Buddhas, p203-205

As Nichiren writes:

For those who are incapable of understanding the truth of the “3,000 existences contained in one thought,” Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, with His great compassion, wraps this jewel with the five characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō and hangs it around the neck of the ignorant in the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 164

d25b, WONS, Eyes

Subduing Evil by Never Despising

[T]he story of Never Despising Bodhisattva in chapter twenty of the Lotus Sūtra is cited by Nichiren as an example of the method of subduing evil. In the chapter the Buddha tells of a bodhisattva who lived during the age of the counterfeit Dharma of the Powerful-Voice-King Buddha. This bodhisattva’s sole practice was to bow to all he met and say to them, “l respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is that? It is because you will be able to practice the Way of bodhisattvas and become buddhas.” (Murano 2012, p. 292) Because of this he was called Never Despising Bodhisattva. The arrogant monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen at that time felt that he was speaking falsely and so abused him and even threw things at him. Though forced to run away, Never Despising Bodhisattva did not relent and continued to assure people “in a loud voice from afar” (Murano 2012, p. 293) that they would become buddhas. In time, those who abused him became his followers and took faith in the teaching that they would be able to attain buddhahood. The Buddha goes on to say that Never Despising Bodhisattva was himself in a past life and that because he was able to lead so many people into the way to perfect and complete awakening he was able to meet many hundreds of thousands of millions of buddhas and expound the Lotus Sūtra and ultimately become a buddha himself. Those who abused him had to expiate their sins in the Avici Hell but afterwards were able to become bodhisattvas themselves and meet many buddhas including Śākyamuni Buddha.

In the story of Never Despising Bodhisattva the method of subduing evil becomes clear. The bodhisattva does not berate or argue with others, nor does he resort to the coercive power of the state. Rather, he forthrightly proclaims the True Dharma that all beings can attain buddhahood in the face of disbelief, abuse, and even violence. Never Despising Bodhisattva is not only motivated by compassion, but his sole practice is a gesture of reverence and respect for the buddha-nature in all beings. When faced with abuse and violence he does not allow himself to be hurt but retreats to a safe distance. Instead of retaliating in kind he continues to voice his deepest conviction and reverence. The method of subduing therefore is about having the courage and compassion to stand up for what is right and to give voice to the True Dharma even though one may meet with derision or even persecution.

Open Your Eyes, p564-565
WONS

‘Wear the Gentle Mind and Forbearance as a Robe’

In ancient India, there lived a man named Śaṇavāsa, who was the third of the 24 Buddhist masters entrusted to transmit the Dharma. It is said he was born wearing a robe. This was due to his donation of a robe to the cause of the Buddha Dharma in his previous existence. Therefore, it is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Wear the gentle mind and forbearance as a robe.”

Nanjō-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Nanjō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 18